Transnational archives: the Canadian case

Abstract

This paper is a brief overview of the concept of the transnational archive as a counterpoint to the idea that a national archive is necessarily a locus of a static idea of nation. The Canadian national archives is used as a case study of an archives that was transnational in its inception, and one that has continued to change in its mandate and materials as a response to patterns in migration and changing notions of multiculturalism as a Canadian federal policy. It introduces the most recent formation of the transnational archive and its denizens: the genealogical archive inhabited by family historians.

Keywords

• transnational archives
• Canadian national archives
• library and archives Canada
• ethnic archives
• genealogy
• memory and migration